After Early Rally, Phils Bats go Silent In Loss

The Phils were swingin’ well early. Unfortunately they forgot games are nine innings. (Photo: AP)

One pitch. That’s all it took for Mike Adams to serve up a line drive home run to Miguel Montero in the eighth inning of a 2-2 game. The bomb down the rightfield line would be the difference in tonight’s game, as the Phils dropped their second straight to Arizona and third straight overall losing.

In a lot of ways, the homer seemed inevitable. After the Phils started fast, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead, the bats went cold. From riches to rags in an instant. And while the pitching did its part, desperately trying to nurse a one-run lead as it became apparent the offense had nothing more to contribute, the ominous feeling that eventually the bottom would drop out crept over the Phillies dugout. When Montero tagged Adams, destiny had been fulfilled. The Phils are now five games under .500 for the second time this season. After tonight’s 3-2 loss, they’ve lost three one run games in a row.

ROLLINS SPARKS THE BATS…BUT NOT FOR LONG

Jimmy Rollins jumpstarted the offense in a hurry tonight when he sent the first offering from Ian Kennedy over the wall in right center for his 44th career leadoff home run. It looked to be the start of a big inning when Chase Utley hit one off the wall in center, but he was gunned down trying to stretch a double into a triple for the first out. The play seemed to sap a lot of the energy from the inning. However, the Phils would continue to battle, getting another run when Domonic Browndrove in Michael Young. It marked the first time the Phils managed two runs in the first since April 21. The good times would not last.After that first inning, the Phils fell back into their usual routine, working bad at bats and generally failing to produce positive outcomes at the plate. They chased out of the zone on a lot of balls and bailed a wild Ian Kennedy out. He had no business pitching deep into this game, but the Phils let him. When they made contact, they got under the ball. John Mayberry and Ryan Howard both hit long outs to the deepest part of the yard, just missing hittable fastballs up in the zone. They only had (three) hits after their four-hit first inning. Merriam Webster couldn’t define ineptitude more accurately than what the Phillies did on offense tonight after the first.

In one final kick in the teeth, The Phillies would get runners on second and third with one out in the ninth inning. But you already know how this scenario ends. Two outs on the infield, and the game was over.

CLOYD DEBUTS TO POSITIVE REVIEWS

With Roy Halladay on the shelf for the foreseeable future, the Phillies are looking for someone to step in and give them quality performances in the rotation over the long haul. Whether that will be Tyler Cloyd or not remains to be seen. Tonight, he took a step in the right direction.

Cloyd started the game with a four-pitch walk, and things didn’t get much better when he allowed a run on a two-out double. It looked like he might be in for a rocky night. He settled in from there, however, throwing five clean innings, including inducing an inning-ending doubleplay in the fourth and sixth innings, before allowing a hit to leadoff the seventh when he was lifted for Antonio Bastardo. Cloyd’s final line: 6.1, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K.

Stuff wise, Cloyd wasn’t fantastic. He was a little wild, and the Diamondbacks missed on some mistakes. But he battled and found ways to get outs. The three walks weren’t great, but he limited the hits to keep his WHIP under 1.00. Early in this process to see if Cloyd can be the guy, that’s something to be encouraged about.

BULLPEN CAN’T HOLD THE LEAD

In relief of Cloyd, and trying to protect a 2-1 lead with a runner on base, Antonio Bastardo was unable to get the job done, allowing Cody Ross (God, I hate him!) to score on a two-out double by Martin Prado to tie the game. The Phils would catch a break when Prado was caught stealing during the next at-bat to end the inning. After what happened with Adams, that break would prove meaningless.

At the game for the second night. I have never seen a team that funds more ways to lose then this team. In the ninth you have to bunt to get the runners over and it worked. But then reality seeks in and you see the p inch hitter not able to get the ball out of the infield and then Rollins doing his normal ground out to the game. The only positive is that the Phillies fans are really showing up and representing. Most of the time you hear just us phillies fans and not the dbacks. Got tomorrows game to go to. Hope they win.

As a long time phillies fan I am getting to the point that I can no longer watch a phillies baseball game. It’s the same story over and over again– they can ‘t score runs. Their line up sounds good ( Rollins, Utley, Howard, Young, Brown ) but in reality none of these players are getting it done with the bat. They fail to manufacture runs . There are so many times men are in scoring position with 1 out or less and the same outcome occurs– base runners are left stranded. It’s getting to the point that if our pitchers give up 3 or more runs we are going to lose the game. I thought Manuel? expertise was coaching hitting.

If you check out the MLB team stats, you will see the Phillies are way down anear the bottom in every major category except GDP’s. That, they are good at- thanks to Michael Young.
Oh, they do pinch hit well, I’ll give them that.

An impotent offense with patchwork pitching makes for a losing, struggling team that is becoming painful to watch. Ryan Howard is looking worse by the day. Charlie continues playing him against lefties.

There is no turn-around for this club. The sample size of their play is large and pathetic. Please hire a consultant for your GM so that the moves made in the next months will yield two or three prospects which will help this club and rid it of uninspired dead weight. Thanks for your time and consideration,

Ownership doesn’t react to letters or petitions. They do react to plummeting revenue. With the decline in attendance and concession sales this season likely to be followed by another drop in the season ticket base over the upcoming winter, I’m sure ownership is paying close attention to the product on the field.

I fell asleep after Prado tied it, which left me with the following questions that I was asleep while Wheels assuredly answered/ spun for Charlie:

1. Why did Bastardo pitch to Prado with a LHP on deck?
2. Once Prado got picked off with Montero at the plate to end the 7th, why didn’t Bastardo start the 8th to face the LH-hitting Montero?

DTD,

While I will co-sign your letter to Monty, it needs to have a post-script calling for the immediate removal of a manager whose bullpen mis-management continues to decrease this team’s chances of winning the close games, a margin for error that they obviously no longer have.

What’s your point about the Astros? They suck now, but they have shed all of their albatross contracts and have either young, cost controlled players or veterans on one year deals. Plus, they have quickly built one of the top farm systems in baseball and have a low payroll with the ability to add salary when the time is right. While I optimistically thought this year’s team wouls win ~87 games before the season began, my optimism has fades to the point where I now look at a rebuilding team like the Astros and think that they have a good chance of winning a pennant before the Phillies next win one.

Texas and seemingly Boston turned things around quickly by trading veterans for prospects and making other astute personnel decisions. I think that those, more than the Houston and Miami, are the models the Phillies should try to emulate once they pull the plug on this season.

I think my point is obvious. If anyone expects the Phils to suddenly improve by trading off their overpaid players they aren’t going to. Sure, the Astros have dumped contracts over the past few years, but it should be obvious to anyone that they won’t be any better for a few more years, just like the Astros won’t be.

There are always differences between what one team can do and what another team can do. The Phils aren’t going to have the advantage that Boston had because the Dodgers have already been big suckers for bad trades and most likely aren’t going to be again. The Phils also don’t have the advantage of players to trade who aren’t decrepit unless they’re willing to “astutely” move Hamels or add “astutely” to the package with prospects. Fans are deluding themselves if they honestly think the Phils will get anything game-changing for mid-thirties infielders with large contracts or an aging catcher with a question mark next to last year’s offensive performance or a once-ace who’s had recent shoulder surgery. It’s possible someone would take Papelbon or Lee, but only if money is eaten. I’ll also point out that Lee has a no-trade provision, Rollins is a 10 and 5, and Utley will be soon. Trading any of them could be tricky.

1. I believe that Lee only has a partial no-trade provision. If I’m right and if they’re willing to pay a part of his salary, they should be able to bring in a nice haul of prospects or young MLB talent. Look at what the Mets got for RA Dickey.

2. I agree that Rollins has the right to veto a trade, but he might waive that right if he gets traded to the right team (San Francisco comes to mind).

3. I don’t believe that Utley will reach 10 and 5 before the trade deadline, but again I may be wrong.

4. Chooch, if he picks up the pace over the next few months, is also a candidate to be traded, especially because he plays a position at which he would be an upgrade for most teams and he doesn’t have a big salary.

With Halladay’s money coming off the books and a few trades of those listed above, the Phillies could re-load, not rebuild.

To hk: Lee may only have a partial no-trade, but it’s still a no-trade. I’m not going to say that trading him would be impossible, I’m just saying it could be tricky. When other teams know a player has veto rights, it limits the market, which in turn, limits the trade value. Same goes for Rollins and Utley, who, as G7 points out, also can block trades to 21 teams.

There are just too many ifs for my liking. Ruiz, Rollins, Utley, even possibly Howard could all be traded, but money will need to be eaten, limiting what the Phils can do in the free agent market. I also still believe that unless the aforementioned players start performing better, the return just isn’t going to be the spectacular franchise rejuvenating event people are hoping for, and that in any event, improvement won’t happen overnight.

I commented the other day about Boston’s situation; it wasn’t any thing like the Phils’. Certainly Amaro and company can make changes, and should, but to think they’ll reap instant success like the Sox did (and bear in mind that Boston may ot finish like they’ve started) to me is thinking that comes from the proverbial fool’s paradise.

1. To G7, I did not know that about Utley. That will definitely make him harder to trade.

2. I would argue that, considering their lack of leverage at the time, Toronto did okay in the Halladay deal. Three years later when they thought they were ready to compete, they used one of the players they acquired for Doc as the key piece in acquiring the reigning Cy Young winner.

3. Another trade in which the selling team got a lot for one player was the haul that Houston received for Hunter Pence.

4. Having made the argument that I believe the Phils should be able to sell off a few pieces as part of improving their payroll situation and putting themselves in a position to re-load, I do not think that now is the time to do so, nor do I think the team would do so now. With the way Lee and Kendrick are pitching, when Hamels gets things straightened out, I still think this team has a chance to string together a good stretch.

Rolllins is now what, 6 for 37 with RISP?
Howard was 1 for 17 vs lefties this year with RISP and 2 outs. I think I heard 6 K’s before last night (2 more).
There seems to be no one to depend on, no one we can rely on for something positive anyway, expecting the worst, that is anohter story.

The ‘picking up that one name player will put us over the top’ theory is no longer operative in MLB. At least it shouldn’t be for any GM who has paid attention to the dismal failure of that strategy over the past 5 year.
Thus no Phillie has anything other than negligible trade value. Hamels would ,
but that is not even worth talking about.

Just because RAJ got fleeced in the Lee deal doesn’t mean an astute GM would. Bob Melvin got Segura for Greinke. If the Phils pay part of Lee’s contract, they should be able to get a couple of good young players.